Poor but Honest

She was poor, but she was honest,

Victim of the squire's whim:
First he loved her, then he left her,
And she lost her honest name.

Then she ran away to London,

For to hide her grief and shame;
There she met another squire,
And she lost her name again.

See her riding in her carriage,

In the Park and all so gay:
All the nibs and nobby persons
Come to pass the time of day.

See the little old-world village

Where her aged parents live,
Drinking the champagne she sends them;
But they never can forgive.

In the rich man's arms she flutters,

Like a bird with broken wing:
First he loved her, then he left her,
And she hasn't got a ring.

See him in the splendid mansion,

Entertaining with the best,
While the girl that he has ruined,
Entertains a sordid guest.

See him in the House of Commons,

Making laws to put down crime,
While the victim of his passions
Trails her way through mud and slime.

Standing on the bridge at midnight,

She says: "Farewell, blighted Love.'
There's a scream, a splash--Good Heavens!
What is she a-doing of?

Then they drag her from the river,

Water from her clothes they wrang,
For they thought that she was drownded;
But the corpse got up and sang:

"It's the same the whole world over;

It's the poor that gets the blame,
It's the rich that gets the pleasure.
Isn't it a blooming shame?'
A. Language Game

The word ‘honest’ in the first stanza, which is twice used: in the first and forth line. The two refers to
different meaning. The first line implies dictionary meaning, and the second implies such a dignity, honor,
and so on. This term is known as homonymy. Thus, the last usage might be substituted by, for instance
‘her dignity’ or ‘her honor’.

The second stanza is likely as the same as the first. While the first stanza projects ‘honest’ as homonymy,
here the ‘honor’ and ‘dignity’ are represented by ‘name’. Of course, ‘name’ is a synonymy of honest in the
forth line in the first stanza. Besides, the use of ‘for’ and ‘to’ that comes together remains problematic for
the current grammatical structure of English. Thus, for this point of view, this use is unacceptable.

The next stanza is actually repeating what has been mentioned as problematic. ‘See’, in the need of
preparing a sentence, should be in the form of gerund. ‘Seeing’ is more acceptable. Otherwhise, ‘see’ for
imperative use is just another. The same ‘see’ is repeated in the following stanza: ‘See the little old-world
village’. Are they consciously taken and used? One of reasons to explain is that it might be that the past
grammar permitted such usage. However, in terms of language game, they are acceptable. The sentence
is meanigfully understood.

B. Knowledge by Acquiantance and Description

Bad experiences got by the narrator ‘she’ has raised up such a feeling of underestimating, not only
onyone around but laso the world she imagines as heavens: Good Heavens, with a capital later in the
beginning. There must be a very clear address to whom she talks to, or there be a critical sense drawn in
an epic.

Beginning from the third stanza, the narrator four times repeating ‘see’: in the third, forth, sixth, and
seventh stanza. The narrator seems to stress to such an eye-catching realities of life. She experiences so
many bad things: she sees every piece of bad things from her own eyes daily. To mention one of those,
for instance … /There she met another squire,/ /And she lost her name again/. And she ends the
sentence with /Isn't it a blooming shame?'/ What a dramatic account it is.

Those compilations of experiences do not only describe what is happening but also compose for an epic
as well as sarcastic ending of the poem.

C. Experimental vs Psychological Psychology

What interesting to explore is the idea, cognition, and the thought of the narrator. Firstly, the narrator
introduces herself as /She was poor, but she was honest/. However, to be noted that it is in the form of
past. After having experienced series of bad things, narrator’s idea and thought gradually conforms the
whole bad things afflicting her. Two stanzas in the beginning is just the introduction,

She was poor, but she was honest,

Victim of the squire's whim:
First he loved her, then he left her,
And she lost her honest name.

Then she ran away to London,

For to hide her grief and shame;
There she met another squire,
And she lost her name again.
The first line tells who she is, what actually the nature of her own is. But, a certain state of affair
dissapoints her. When he tries to keep away of the unpleasent of the past encounter, she remains
experincing the same. As a result,

"It's the same the whole world over;

It's the poor that gets the blame,
It's the rich that gets the pleasure.
Isn't it a blooming shame?'

Wendy Cope

"My heart has made its mind up

And I’m afraid it’s you.

Whatever you’ve got lined up,

My heart has made its mind up

And if you can’t be signed up

This year, next year will do.

My heart has made its mind up

And I’m afraid it’s you".

A. Language Game

This rhyming poem is totally a game in its message. The poem is disclosured by /My heart has made up
its mind up/ /And I’m afraid it’s you/. Then, the poem is enclosured by the same lines. Readers might find
difficulties to catch the meaning of ‘heart’ and ‘its mind’ when at the same time in the third line the poetry
states, /Whatever you got lined up/ /My heart has made its mind up/. And, this is still underlined by the
following lines, /And if you can’t be signed up/ /This year, next year will do/. This is absolutely private.
Only the poet can follow its meaning and messages.